Saturday, 01 January 2005

ADT DST Issue Update

Chris Yanchar has posted some advice to the ADT Newsgroup on using the Sheet Set Manager (SSM) in ADT especially when projects are hosted on network drives.

Occasionally while rearranging sheets, with drag&drop, the SSM structure can appear not to change & sometimes the .dst file SSM uses to control sheets can be corrupted leaving a 0kb file. The result of this is that sheet set structure information is lost even though the dwg files and content are all still on the disk.

I've had this happen twice in the time we have been using Projects & SSM. The cause seems to be the interaction of ADT, multiple users, and the network environment projects are hosted in.

Chris has suggested several methods to avoid this problem until a final fix is found.

Several of you have mentioned running into an issue of the .dst (Sheet Set) file reducing itself to 0 kb. We have finally able to reproduce this thanks to clues from some of your posts. Unfortunately I don't have any information about a fix at this time, but here are the main things to avoid:

1) Avoid drag&dropping the same sheet or subset in quick secession. If you moved a sheet/subset and don't see things update or the palette appears to freeze, wait a second and then try to do it again.

2) In multi-user mode, avoid drag&drop same sheets/subsets simultaneously. The slower the network the easier to reproduce; network traffic can affect this. The issue is the delay in the Sheet Set tab updating its display before the second drag&drop. In some cases, it might look like the sheet/subset did not move and so you will try again, but it is the latency in the updating that causes the problem.

3) If you are manipulating the Sheet Set in a multi-user environment, clicking the Refresh button occasionally should also ensure things are up-to-date prior to you making your own changes.

Some of you have stated that things are fine, then as soon as the project is opened up the next day...poof. This might be that the above issues occurred but went unnoticed, or it could mean there is another way to reproduce the problem.

Nonetheless, hopefully those of you that are running into this can be mindful of the above for a couple weeks and update us on your experience.

For those of you that are experiencing this problem, please email me (chris.yanchar@autodesk.com) your findings - good or bad -- this way we can better track the issue with those customers that seem to be running into this more often.

NOTE: If faced with a corrupt .dst you can restore a "good one" and this will restore the sheet set structure as long as nothing is altered in the project before the file is restored. If you don't have a backup as a last resort you can delete the corrupt .dst file. If no .dst file is present ADT will build a new one next time you access the project. The catch is that it's built from the dwg file/layout structure on the disk and may not reflect any other editing you have done.

"We are still working on this problem. It appears that a probable cause is a short time lag when updating the sheet set after drag/drop. In certain cases, it is possible to do a second drag/drop before the first drag/drop has finished updating the sheet set. The second drag drop can then confuse the sheet set by creating circular references or creating invalid relationships (having a node be a parent or grandparent of itself). Although this may work in Hollywood, it tends to really mess up the sheet set.

Best advice it to have one person modifying the sheet set at a time. By this I mean adding, moving, deleting sheets or editing the sheet set properties. Multiple users working on existing sheets at the same time is fine.

Second important point is to perform the drag/drop operations patiently to give ADT time to complete each operation. For example, if you drag/drop a sheet or subset and it doesn't immediately appear in the new location, give it a minute to catch up. Do not attempt to quickly repeat the same drag/drop again!

Wait for the sheet set tree to update and reflect your last changes before attempting the next operation.

Comments

ADT DST Issue Update

Chris Yanchar has posted some advice to the ADT Newsgroup on using the Sheet Set Manager (SSM) in ADT especially when projects are hosted on network drives.

Occasionally while rearranging sheets, with drag&drop, the SSM structure can appear not to change & sometimes the .dst file SSM uses to control sheets can be corrupted leaving a 0kb file. The result of this is that sheet set structure information is lost even though the dwg files and content are all still on the disk.

I've had this happen twice in the time we have been using Projects & SSM. The cause seems to be the interaction of ADT, multiple users, and the network environment projects are hosted in.

Chris has suggested several methods to avoid this problem until a final fix is found.

Several of you have mentioned running into an issue of the .dst (Sheet Set) file reducing itself to 0 kb. We have finally able to reproduce this thanks to clues from some of your posts. Unfortunately I don't have any information about a fix at this time, but here are the main things to avoid:

1) Avoid drag&dropping the same sheet or subset in quick secession. If you moved a sheet/subset and don't see things update or the palette appears to freeze, wait a second and then try to do it again.

2) In multi-user mode, avoid drag&drop same sheets/subsets simultaneously. The slower the network the easier to reproduce; network traffic can affect this. The issue is the delay in the Sheet Set tab updating its display before the second drag&drop. In some cases, it might look like the sheet/subset did not move and so you will try again, but it is the latency in the updating that causes the problem.

3) If you are manipulating the Sheet Set in a multi-user environment, clicking the Refresh button occasionally should also ensure things are up-to-date prior to you making your own changes.

Some of you have stated that things are fine, then as soon as the project is opened up the next day...poof. This might be that the above issues occurred but went unnoticed, or it could mean there is another way to reproduce the problem.

Nonetheless, hopefully those of you that are running into this can be mindful of the above for a couple weeks and update us on your experience.

For those of you that are experiencing this problem, please email me (chris.yanchar@autodesk.com) your findings - good or bad -- this way we can better track the issue with those customers that seem to be running into this more often.

NOTE: If faced with a corrupt .dst you can restore a "good one" and this will restore the sheet set structure as long as nothing is altered in the project before the file is restored. If you don't have a backup as a last resort you can delete the corrupt .dst file. If no .dst file is present ADT will build a new one next time you access the project. The catch is that it's built from the dwg file/layout structure on the disk and may not reflect any other editing you have done.

"We are still working on this problem. It appears that a probable cause is a short time lag when updating the sheet set after drag/drop. In certain cases, it is possible to do a second drag/drop before the first drag/drop has finished updating the sheet set. The second drag drop can then confuse the sheet set by creating circular references or creating invalid relationships (having a node be a parent or grandparent of itself). Although this may work in Hollywood, it tends to really mess up the sheet set.

Best advice it to have one person modifying the sheet set at a time. By this I mean adding, moving, deleting sheets or editing the sheet set properties. Multiple users working on existing sheets at the same time is fine.

Second important point is to perform the drag/drop operations patiently to give ADT time to complete each operation. For example, if you drag/drop a sheet or subset and it doesn't immediately appear in the new location, give it a minute to catch up. Do not attempt to quickly repeat the same drag/drop again!

Wait for the sheet set tree to update and reflect your last changes before attempting the next operation.